


Back to the old shop

by dk323



Category: Forever (TV)
Genre: Gen, foreverdrabbles14
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 00:53:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6217102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dk323/pseuds/dk323
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Henry and Merlin spend time in the basement of Abe’s Antiques. Years of avoiding the place, deciding the memories of his son would be too painful, Henry fears the experience will be akin to emotional torture.</p><p>For the Forever Drabble Challenge Week 14 prompt of "Abe's Antiques."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back to the old shop

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Forever Drabble Challenge (Week 14): Abe’s Antiques.  
> This is a crossover where Henry and Merlin (from BBC’s Merlin played by Colin Morgan) are roommates in New York City, 66 years following Abe’s death. They’re both immortal, and both a bit of a mess.

**2096:**

“I’ll have to pass on the alcohol. It never ends well for me.” Henry said as Merlin set the bottle down on the table down in the basement of Abe’s former shop.

“I brewed the alcohol myself. It’s not addictive. This is just to get drunk for the evening. And maybe it can be cathartic.”

Henry wondered if he should or shouldn’t. He was already anxious being back in his son’s shop, the place he’d once called home over a century ago. 

After a little over a year of knowing Merlin, Henry felt he could trust him. Although there wasn’t a lot of other immortals to compare him to. Henry was simply grateful he wasn’t like Adam who was a cold-blooded killer, sociopath, and free from the Locked-In Syndrome Henry had put him in decades ago. All these facts weighed on his mind and he wanted so badly to take some morphine or some other type of opioid to calm himself, perhaps take a long well-needed rest.

But having Merlin around stopped Henry from heading toward the self-destructive route that felt so appealing every so often.

“Very well. What kind of alcohol is it?”

“Scotch.”

Henry nodded, letting Merlin fill his glass with the drink. 

Merlin poured himself his own glass of Scotch, putting the bottle back on the table afterwards. 

“So how did you keep this shop open for so long?”

“Sometimes I’m not sure myself. Abe was able to find someone to take over the store, and it went on from there. I found it difficult visiting the shop, had to move out after Abraham’s death. Couldn’t bear to stay here knowing he was gone.” Henry said with a tired sigh. He raised the glass to his lips, downing about a quarter of the alcohol in one go.

The Scotch tasted like smooth leather. It made his nostrils flare at the intensity of so much at once, but it was a welcome feeling. A distraction from his inner turmoil.

“Lucky too these days that the old things, even back from 19th and 18th centuries are coming back in fashion. Going retro.”

Henry shrugged. “Yes that’s true.”

Merlin swirled his drink with a finger, his magic making the liquid spin.

“I’m certain Adam will find a way to kill me for good. I knew the Locked-In Syndrome wasn’t a permanent solution. But at least for a time it gave me peace, free from worrying about him. He will seek revenge, I know it.”

“And he’s biding his time to see if you’ll have a mental breakdown.”

“I can’t allow him to win,” Henry said in defiance. 

He slammed his glass down on the table, the alcohol sloshing against the glass, some of it escaping and leaving a puddle on the table.

“Sorry. He just infuriates me,” Henry said.

Merlin got some napkins to soak up the spilled alcohol.

“It’s all right. I feel the same way about Morgana. She murdered someone I consorted with. He had an unfortunate resemblance to Arthur. I had to see his mutilated body, and I wished that Arthur wouldn’t return from Avalon, that he won’t wake up. Because I’m not sure I’ll be enough to protect him from Morgana.”

“You will. You just need to believe that,” Henry told him.

“I hope I’ll be ready when the day comes.”

“Since we’re sharing, I admit I was feeling paranoid in Abe’s final days. I feared he’d accidentally reveal my secret. So I thought it would be best to…well, give him a peaceful death. I was sure if Abe knew my reasoning, he would agree.”

“But you couldn’t go through with it?”

Henry shook his head, looking down into his glass glumly. “All those times Abraham killed me, for good reasons mind you, but when I had to do the same to him, I didn’t have the courage, the strength to do the deed. Even if I knew Abe had lived a long, full life. Just the thought that he wouldn’t come back, that for him to die would be forever…stayed my hand.”

“You know what that means?”

“What?” Henry looked at Merlin.

“It means you’re a good father.”

“I see your 1,600 some years of immortal life have given you wisdom,” Henry remarked, taking a good swig of his drink, enjoying the sting as the alcohol went down his throat.

Merlin chuckled. “No, I think you have beaten me in that department, Henry Morgan.”

Henry nodded, agreeing. Although the alcohol was not making think too clearly. So he wasn’t fully clear what he was agreeing to.

Henry tapped his glass, the barest amount of Scotch still there. “This is really quite excellent.”

“I did test it myself,” Merlin said with a nod. 

He filled up Henry’s glass, and then refilled his own.

“We’re doing well, aren’t we?” Henry asked. “Two immortals hiding away in a dimly lit basement of my dead son’s antique shop. Not bad.”

Henry sighed. “I’m going to have an awful headache tomorrow.”

“Cheers to the both of us sad souls,” Merlin declared. 

He clinked Henry’s glass with his and finished off their drinks in only minutes.

A terrible hangover would await Henry tomorrow, but for now, tomorrow morning seemed a world away.

~ * ~


End file.
